{
  "locale": "en",
  "access": {
    "cost": "free",
    "signupRequired": false,
    "loginRequired": false,
    "readCountsAreAnonymous": true,
    "readingHistoryAssociatedWithReader": false,
    "note": "Everything here is free to read. There is no account, no signup, and no login. Verifiant counts anonymous reads of each lesson; no reading history is associated with you."
  },
  "notice": "Verifiant is not the State of Arizona, the Arizona Registrar of Contractors, or a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice. It describes public process and public record, and links to the official sources so you can read them yourself.",
  "lawyerNotice": "This page describes public process. It is not legal advice, and it does not say how any situation will come out. For decisions about your own situation, a licensed Arizona attorney is the right reader.",
  "question": {
    "slug": "what-is-the-recovery-fund",
    "locale": "en",
    "title": "What Is Arizona's Residential Contractors' Recovery Fund?",
    "answer": "A fund Arizona keeps to pay real losses to owner occupants when a licensed residential contractor's work went wrong. It pays up to thirty thousand dollars per residence, two hundred thousand in total against any single license, and one of its two routes never touches a courtroom.",
    "lawyerFlag": true,
    "publicationStatus": "published",
    "updatedOn": "2026-08-11",
    "path": "/learn/questions/what-is-the-recovery-fund",
    "sections": [
      {
        "heading": "The Two Roads In",
        "body": "An administrative filing inside the Registrar's own process, or a court judgment brought to the Registrar afterward. Nothing requires suing anyone first, which is the part most of the internet never mentions.",
        "factSlugs": [
          "recovery-fund-two-routes"
        ]
      },
      {
        "heading": "The Outer Walls",
        "body": "Thirty thousand dollars per residence, two hundred thousand in total against any single license. Real limits, and still the rung built for exactly the walked-away-job situation.",
        "factSlugs": [
          "recovery-fund-caps"
        ]
      },
      {
        "heading": "The Gate",
        "body": "The fund reads the Registrar's complaint outcome, and it is not available for work done without a license. That is why checking the license before money moves is the first station on every path here.",
        "factSlugs": [
          "cannot-sue-without-a-license"
        ]
      }
    ],
    "officialLinks": [
      {
        "label": "The Residential Contractors' Recovery Fund",
        "url": "https://roc.az.gov/recovery-fund"
      }
    ],
    "faq": [
      {
        "question": "Do rentals or flips qualify?",
        "answer": "The fund is built around owner occupants. Whether a particular property and situation qualifies is exactly the kind of edge the Registrar's own pages and a licensed Arizona attorney should answer for you."
      },
      {
        "question": "Does the fund pay for work done without a license?",
        "answer": "No, and that is the sharpest reason to check the license before hiring: the fund stands behind licensed work only."
      }
    ]
  },
  "facts": [
    {
      "slug": "recovery-fund-two-routes",
      "locale": "en",
      "title": "Two Routes into the Recovery Fund",
      "statement": "There are two roads into the fund, and only one of them runs through a courtroom. A homeowner can pursue an administrative filing inside the Registrar's own process, or take a court judgment and then put the Registrar on notice. Nothing requires suing anyone first.",
      "factType": "official_process",
      "source": {
        "label": "Arizona ROC, the Recovery Fund",
        "url": "https://roc.az.gov/recovery-fund"
      },
      "authority": 2,
      "authorityName": "official interpretation",
      "topic": "Getting money back",
      "observedOn": "2026-08-11",
      "recheckBy": "2026-11-11",
      "publicationStatus": "published",
      "updatedOn": "2026-08-11",
      "path": "/learn/facts/recovery-fund-two-routes"
    },
    {
      "slug": "recovery-fund-caps",
      "locale": "en",
      "title": "The Recovery Fund's Limits",
      "statement": "Thirty thousand dollars per residence, two hundred thousand in total against any single license: those are the Recovery Fund's outer walls. Inside them, the fund pays actual damages to owner occupants of a primary residence, for work done under a licensed residential contractor and for nothing else.",
      "factType": "official_process",
      "source": {
        "label": "Arizona ROC, the Recovery Fund",
        "url": "https://roc.az.gov/recovery-fund"
      },
      "authority": 2,
      "authorityName": "official interpretation",
      "topic": "Getting money back",
      "observedOn": "2026-08-11",
      "recheckBy": "2026-11-11",
      "publicationStatus": "published",
      "updatedOn": "2026-08-11",
      "path": "/learn/facts/recovery-fund-caps"
    },
    {
      "slug": "cannot-sue-without-a-license",
      "locale": "en",
      "title": "A Contractor Without a License Cannot Sue for Payment",
      "statement": "A contractor who worked without the license the job required cannot use Arizona's courts to collect for it. The statute is blunt about the timing: no license when the contract was signed and while the work was done means no lawsuit for the money.",
      "factType": "public_rule",
      "source": {
        "label": "A.R.S. § 32-1153",
        "url": "https://www.azleg.gov/ars/32/01153.htm"
      },
      "authority": 1,
      "authorityName": "primary authority",
      "topic": "Licensing",
      "observedOn": "2026-08-11",
      "recheckBy": "2027-02-11",
      "plain": "Arizona's courts are closed to a contractor who worked without the license the job required: the statute makes holding the license - when the contract was signed and while the work was done - a condition of suing for payment.\n\nFor a homeowner, this is one of the reasons checking the license before money moves matters so much: it tells you which rules governed the person you hired before anything went wrong.",
      "limits": "This is about the contractor's ability to sue for payment, and nothing else. Applying it to a real situation is work for a licensed Arizona attorney.",
      "faq": [
        {
          "question": "Does this mean I never have to pay an unlicensed contractor?",
          "answer": "The statute closes the courthouse door on a suit for payment by a contractor who lacked the required license. It does not settle every question between the two of you - for your own situation, talk to a licensed Arizona attorney."
        }
      ],
      "publicationStatus": "published",
      "updatedOn": "2026-08-11",
      "path": "/learn/facts/cannot-sue-without-a-license"
    }
  ]
}